Remote Sensing for Detection and Assessment of Forests and Range Lands Degradation in Al-Halba Area White Nile State Sudan (1973-2014)

Remote Sensing for Detection and Assessment of Forests and Range Lands Degradation in Al-Halba Area White Nile State Sudan (1973-2014)

Author:

Elfaig, Ahmed H.; Wadi, Eltayeb I.; Salih, Abdelrahim A.M.

Abstract:

This paper is an attempt to detect the change in forests and range lands in the arid lands of Al-
Halba Area during the last 40 years (1973-2014). The main objective of the study is to measure
the amount and rate of change in vegetation cover including both forests and grazing lands. The
study is based on Remote Sensing of satellite imagery of Landsat data acquired in 1973 and
2014. The data were processed and analyzed using open sources of GIS and remote sensing
software. In addition, the complementary data needed for the study were drawn from the field
work conducted in October, 2015, and from secondary sources.
The results revealed a considerable deterioration of natural resources including the tree cover
and range lands in the study area. One of the main findings of the study revealed that, forests
have been degraded from (33512.72 Ha.) in 1973 to (10508 Ha.) in 2014, with an annual
removal rate of 1.67% or (561 Ha). During this period the area loss was about 70% of the tree
cover. The range lands also shrank from (60665.84 Ha) to (52455.2 Ha) with an annual rate of
0.33% or (200 Ha) during the same period. The decrease in forest cover occurred as the result in
the expansion of some land uses and bare lands (agriculture, settlements, and bare soil), they
expanded from (12924.5 Ha) in 1973 to (44819.75 Ha) in 2014, with an annual growth rate of
1.7% or (779 Ha). The main reasons of degradation of natural resources and expansion of bare
lands may be due to the rapid growth of population which stands for about 3% annually and to
the increasing demand for more land for agriculture and the building of settlements. The removal of forests and range lands has disturbed the inherited ecosystems, and contributed to
desertification and loss of fauna and flora in the area.
The deterioration of the environmental potentialities is a major challenge in the arid lands of
Sudan, coupled with the lack of awareness of local people towards sustaining their environment;
the local people should be advised to reduce the irrational use of forests and range lands.
Simultaneously, the efforts of both authorities and people should therefore, focus on promoting
measurements of conservation of the ecosystem.